Stage 1

Stage 1: I start drawing the outline of the overall shape with a light touch. I try to represent main shapes as simply as possible and focus on the angles and the size relationships between shapes and features. At this point, I mostly use long, straight lines to get the right angles and use a vine charcoal to make it easy to erase any redundant lines as needed. I gradually move from larger shapes to smaller areas. 

Stage 2

Stage 2: I start to block in with light and dark shapes. I squint my eyes to simplify the value pattern and see the right shapes of light and dark. Then I fill in the dark tone with a thick vine charcoal, get some contrast, and keep the sharp edges around the shadows to make light and shadow in the value pattern clearer and more distinct. After that, I use a tissue or a finger to add mid-tone areas and soften the transitions between the light and dark parts. At this stage, I focus on getting the structure of the head with simple planes as frames.

Stage 3

Stage 3: I refine the features more carefully, being mindful of the ratio between them, the angle of each and the overall head shape. I also locate and indicate turning edges. I maintain the basic value pattern and contrasts from the structure I built earlier, while I work on mid-tone areas. Then I draw other areas like the hair shape, as well as the neck and shoulder lines. I continue to adjust and build up outline shapes. I sometimes make adjustments to the neck width, the cloth shape, the shoulder line and so forth, if they are necessary to get a better overall pose or to put more emphasis on the character.

Stage 4

Stage 4: In order to make the face pop out as a focal point, I put dark tones around the hair shape and reduce the contrast between the outline of the hair and the background. Instead of a plain dark tone, however, I draw circular shapes with thick vine charcoal to give an abstract, airy feeling in the background. In addition, I refine the darkest dark using a compressed charcoal, resulting in a wider value range and further strengthening of the focal point.

Stage 5

Stage 5: I go into the details of the model’s facial expression and various other shapes in this stage. I refine the features with a sharpened HB charcoal pencil. I go back and forth between different areas of the drawing while adjusting values, clarifying edges and refining shapes. I spend hours defining many fine-curved planes and refining them with delicate pencil strokes, placing the right values at the right locations. In addition, I try to find essential points where tiny changes can have a dramatic impact on the overall image.

Stage 6

Stage 6: After completing the focal point region, I work on the overall atmosphere. I add some soft and light touches showing the volume of hair, and I add small decorative touches in the background. I try to step back from the easel as often as I can. Sometimes, I even stay away for a week or more before coming back to the drawing to check the proportion, values and their balance. I continue to make small adjustments until the moment it’s “finished.”